The Echo Room
by Snowball's-Chance
Summary: Sequel to Somewhere Between Hate and Peanuts. Link and Seaweed are asked for help from a mysterious stranger that is not all he seems to be.
1. Chapter 1

I pretty much really enjoyed the last little Hairspray mystery I wrote, so I decided to write another one. This one might be even more crazy than the last one was.

Continuity: I am once again struck down with the deasease of laziness and didn't do reasearch.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hairspray. My spell check is broken. 'Nuff said.

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When the recording studio was finished with Link Larkin and sent him home, he still stood in his back yard, practicing, sarinading the moon and sometimes old Mrs. Lebrouski, the widow who lived across the alley behind the Larkin house, as she sat in her rocking chair at her window when she heard his smooth, melodic voice start wafting though her open window.

_Tell me you're my girl and I'm your boy...that your my pride and I'm your joy..._ he sang out without reservation

She sat with her eyes closed, a small smile on her face and tears silently running down her cheeks, clutching a picture of her late husband to her chest.

Link finished the song with a long high note he liked to pour his whole heart into, imagining Tracy's smile whenever he did _It Takes Two_. The way she let her eyes close dreamily, the way she sighed.

He allowed silence to settle around him after he finished the song, happy witht the result. He expirimented with key changes for awhile unitll he heard Mr. Truman next door lean out his window and yelled out, "Get inside and quit that racket, boy! I'm trying to sleep!"

Link looked at his watch and learned that it was half after eight.

"Crotchety old goat." Link mumbleld to himself as he walked back to his house.

"I heard that, you punk!" Mr. Truman said as he ducked back into his second-story window.

Link headed quickly back toward the light of his back door, trying to avoid any more wrath from Mr. Truman, but before he could reach it, Link's mother appeared in the doorway.

"That was beautiful, Link, but you have a telephone call, Baby." she said and dissapeared back inside the house.

"Thanks, Mom" he said as he passed his mother in the kitchen, doing dishes.

He crossed into the living room to the phone. "Hello?" he said into the reciever.

"Link, I was wondering if you could come to the record shop." the voice on the line said.

"Seaweed? What's going on?" Link asked, confused.

"I don't know. A guy just came in and...I'm guessing he'll explain when you get here. He wants to talk to us." Seaweed said.

"I'll be right over." Link said and hung up.

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Link shook the stray snowflakes out of his dark hair as the bell jangled when he pushed the door open to Motormouth Records record shop. He rubbed his hands together and hopped form foot to foot to try to warm himself in the sudden heat of the shop.

He jumped when Seaweed suddenly popped out from behind one of the shelves of music.

"Link!" he said.

"Holy Shit! Seaweed, you scared the crap out of me! What the hell's the matter with you?" Link said, taking off his coat and hanging it on the hat stand by the door.

"He's back here. He was real insistent." Seaweed said, chuckling at startling his friend.

Link followed Seaweed in the back, where Motormouth was sitting and talking with a man.

"Link! Come and sit down, Honey. Do you want anything? Something to eat? You boys are so skinny, I don't know how you keep warm in the snow." She asked him.

"No, No thank you, Ms. Maybelle." Link said, sitting where Motormouth had indicated. "Seaweed said something about needing to talk, Ma'am?"

"Well, Link, we have a visitor here that wanted to ask you a favor." Motormouth said with hesitation.

The man who sat in front of Link had been silent up unitll now, studying Link. He held out a hand. "Tom Weatherly." the man intoduced himself.

"It's...uh...Nice to meet you, Mr. Weatherly" Link said hesitantly taking his hand and shaking it.

"I've come to ask for you and Seaweed's help, Link" Tom said.

"With what?" Link asked.

"I own a restaurant downtown." Tom began. "And I had been doing well for a number of years. A couple of weeks ago, on one of our busier nights, I was taking the trash out and heard strange noises in the back hallway. I went to investigate and saw a shimmer of silver light dissapear into darkness. Then, later, as I was talking to patrons in the restaraunt and the same light shone brightly in the middle of the dining room giving everyone a warning that anyone who enter the building was cursed."

"That would clear a room in a hurry." Link commented.

"It did. and it kept clearing the room, every week, like clockwork, on friday, my buisiest night." Tom said, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry, sir. I really am, but I really don't see what this has to do with me." He looked back uncertainly at Seaweed and Motormouth's confused faces.

"Well, I read in the paper a few months back and saw you and Seaweed save your show and I was hoping...that you two could take a look into this for me." Tom told him.

"But sir, I-I'm a singer. Seaweed and I dance on a TV show, We're not a detectives." Link explained.

"Not to mention there's no such things as ghosts or curses." Seaweed agreed.

"Please. You would be doing me a huge favor." Tom pleaded.

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In the end, Seaweed and Link agreed to try, careful not to promise anything, and the next morning found them at the Weatherly's restaurant.

It sat in a brick building, squat, but still managed to maintain some elegance, labeled 'The Echo Room' with a graceful neon sign and fancy window furnishings. Link could tell it was a high-class place.

The Echo Room was in a part of Baltimore that Link didn't see much, not that it's that particularly different from his own neighborhood, Link had never been there much before.

They stepped inside, siging with relief as the warm atmosphere of the eatery.

"Good morning!" squeaked a high pitched voice The voice belonged to that of a painfully thin brunette hostess, who paused on Link, giving him a long look from his perfectly formed hair to his booted feet. "_Welcome_ to The Echo Room. Table for two?" She said with the same look in Seaweed's direction.

Link didn't seem to notice. "No, thank you. We're looking for Tom Weatherly. Is he around?" he asked her politely.

"I don't know, but is there something I can help you boys with?" The hostess asked in what she apperently thought was a sultry voice, leaning on her wooden podium and batting her eyes at them..

"Boys!" A familiar voice greeted. They saw Tom Weatherly striding toward them, a huge smile on her face. "Thank you, Rosa." he said to the hostess. Rosa slumped back, a dissapointed look on her face as Weatherly led Seaweed and Link behind a door marked **Private**.

"She single." Weatherly informed them with a wink.

"Huh?" Link said.

"Rosa. I think she liked you two."

"I have a girlfriend." Link and Seaweed said together hastily.

"Oh, yeah." was all he said.

They were led into the back hallway, which was several degrees colder than the dining room. Seaweed and Link fanned out, unsure what to look for, but looked anyway.

"It was right there, by the coat closet." Weatherly informed them.

Link gavitated more toward the back door, perpendicular to the closet, while Seaweed went for the actual closet. They came up with nothing. The dining room yielded the same.

"Well, I think we should come back on friday, so we can see this ghost for ourselves." Link concluded.

"I'd comp your meal. Bring your lady friends." Weatherly said eagerly.

"Thanks, Mr. Weatherly. We'll be back. Can we leave out the back door?" Link asked, feeling the cold walk around the building was worth not having to deal with Rosa again.

"Sure." Weatherly said as the phone bagan to ring. "Can you show yourselves out?"

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Seaweed grabbed Link's arm as he reached for the doorknob to the snow-covered world outside.

"What?" Link asked.

"You notice how he watched us when we looked around? I'd say that wasn't on the up-and-up, you know what I'm saying?" Seaweed whispered as they heard the door to Weatherly's office open and close. "Something doesn't sit right with all of this. I think we need to check out this phone call."

Link shrugged his shoulders, opened the back door and closed it, and follwoed Seaweed to the outside of Weatherly's office. Seaweed and Link put thier ears to the door.

"This didn't work out so well the last time we tried this." Link whispered. "We ended up tied to two chairs." Seaweed elbowed him into silence.

"-what you want these two for before I go any further. They're just kids!" Weatherly was saying.

Link pressed his ear harder to the door, his attention effectively grabbed.

Weatherly sighed deeply. "Of course I remember. No, please, I'll do it. They're coming back on Friday."

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Well, that's an odd twist. I'm excited to see where I'm going with this. I mean, I totally know what I'm doing. Kind of.

This chapter started very simply and it kind of raged out of control. So if I missed anything in redoing it, apologies.

Anyway, thanks guys for coming around for a second go around with these Link/Seaweed mysteries. I do so enjoy them.

-Gold


	2. Chapter 2

So it goes...

Continuity: Oh YEAH I made it up.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hairspray

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"So now we're being plotted against? How did that happen?" Seaweed exclaimed incredulously as they schogged though the snow around the building back toward thier car.

"Maybe, but why? The only one we pissed off was that peanut guy. And becides, they might not even have been talking about us." Link reasoned.

"So do you think we should go?" Seaweed asked as he plopped into ther passenger seat. "It's a trap, but if we don't go someone's still after us adn we don't know why."

"I guess it would be better to know what we're up against. We should talk to Tracy and Penny." Link sighed. "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

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"Holy Moly, Link." Tracy exclaimed when he told her about he and Seaweed's expierences at The Echo Room. "What are we going to do?"

Link, Seaweed, Tracy, and Penny all sat in Tracy's living room

"It's going to be dangerous, Trace; and I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you." Link said, laying his hand on hers.

She looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Ditto" she said simply. "I want to help."

"Me too." Penny said resiliently.

"Besides, it's about time you two took us out on a date." Tracy added, imitating Link's famous wink, making Seaweed laugh.

"Alright, it looks like we're gonna pay a visit to The Echo Room on friday." Link sighed, a bad feeling pulling at the back of his brain.

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Seaweed pulled up to Tracy's apartment in one of his best tan suits, and orange shirt, and a brown tie with Link in the passenger seat in a blue suit, a black shirt and a silver tie, biting his thumbnail distractedly.

"Cracker boy, you need to calm down before you bite that finger down to a nub." Seaweed told him.

"I don't like this, Seaweed." Link admitted. "We're putting Tracy and Penny in harm's way."

"Well, it's too late now. It'll turn out okay, let's just keep our eyes peeled. C'mon the girls are waiting." Seaweed said, swinging out of the car and walking to the apartment building, followed by Link.

"Well, hello, boys. Tracy and Penny are almost ready, come on in and sit down." Wilbur said after he opened the Turnblad's front door.

Link and Seaweed went into the living room and sat on the couch. Wilbur came in with a newspaper and sat down on the seay chair across from them. Link could hear the sounds of dishes being done form the kitchen. He assumed that's where Edna was.

"Where are you kids planning to go tonight?" Wilbur asked, shaking the newspaper open to read.

"The Echo Room." Link answered.

"The one north of downtown?" WIlbur asked distractedly, still reading the newspaper.

"Yes, sir." Seaweed said.

"Nice place." Wilbur mumbled, immersed in the newspaper.

Link and Seaweed gave each other a look. "Let's hope." Link mouthed. Someone coming down the stairs, and Link and Seaweed stood up.

The sight of Tracy still took Link's breath away. She smiled broadly at his direction and his knees started feeling dangerously weak.

"You l-look...amazing, babe." Link stuttered a little, swallowing.

"Thank you." she said giving a little twirl, making her dress flare. " You clean up nice, too."

"Hey, Penny." Seaweed said, the same goofy smile on his face. "You girls ready for a good time?"

"Now, don't get too crazy." Edna said in warning, walking from the kitchen, drying a pot. "Home by midnight." she added to Link sternly.

"You got it, Mrs. Turnblad."

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"This place seems groovy." Tracy said excitedly.

The Echo Room was much different under the cover of darkness. People spilled out from the doors, waiting for tables. Music drifted from every brick in the foundation. Link had to admit, the restaurant didn't look nearly as menacing as he thought it was.

They made thier way up to the marte 'd's podium. Link and Seaweed cringed when they saw that Rosa was working.

"Well, _hello_, boys!" She greeted enthusiasticly, then caught sight of Penny and Tracy and gave them a not-so-fiendly once over. "Table for four?"

"That's right." Penny said, completely oblivious.

"We have one set aside for you." Rosa said, and led them to thier table.

"She's very subtle." Tracy whispered. Link snorted, disguising it with a cough.

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The evening, Link noticed, was going surprisingly well.

A waiter had come by to take their orders, and The four teenagers waited, talking about school, the show, and music. The night was going so well, in fact, Link stopped thinking about anything remotely to do with Tom Weatherly or ghosts, fake or no.

"Speaking of tunes," Link said, taking a sip of his drink and then Tracy by the hand and helping her up from her chair, "I think we need to pay a visit to the dance floor, Little Darlin'."

Tracy smiled and followed him to a section of hardwood floor where the music wailed the loudest and dancers weaved in time with the beat, followed by Seaweed and Penny.

They fell into the throng perfectly, Link enjoying the beat and the way that Tracy danced to it. Her body twisted and weaved and he just coulden't get enough of her.

Tracy felt blissfully happy. She let her eyes close as she let herself get lost in the music. She had to open her eyes again to make sure she wasn't in a dream.

And Link was gone.

"Link?" Tracy said, looking around a the various bodies dancing around her. The dark-headed heartthrob was no where to be found. Penny ran up to her, eyes wide and pulled her from the dance floor.

"Tracy! Something's wrong! I can't find Seaweed!"

The amazing dissapearing act. Where did they go? Find out in our next chapter!

Thanks,

-Gold


	3. Chapter 3

Pretty excited about this chapter. I really hope it turns out well.

Conitnuity: I competely made all of this stuff up. Time line could be a little screwed up also.

Disclaimer: Little bit of cursing. I apologize. My spell check is also on the fritz.

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Link became aware of a very, very low temperature.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself in a dark room. The only light was that filtered down from a single low-watt lightbulb. Link squinted, trying to get his bearings. He was laying on a feather matress supported by an iron bedframe. He sat up slowly, goraning as he tried to collect his thoughts.

He remebered going into the restaurant with Tracy, Seaweed, and Penny, being seated, ordering drinks, then it got fuzzy wheen he started to head toward the dance floor.

"What's going on?" Link said to himself.

"I dunno, Cracker Boy, but I think we should stop hanging out if you keep getting us into messes like this." Said a familiar voice from across the room.

"Seaweed!" Link said, going over to his friend on the other bed in the room. Seaweed was sitting on the edge the bed with his head in his hands. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. Do you know where we are?" Seaweed asked.

"The set of _Psycho_? I have no idea." Link said, going over to the door and trying it. He pounded on it in frustration after finding it locked. "Do you remember anything?"

"No, not after me and Penny went to the dance floor."

"Yeah, me either. I'd bet our drinks were spiked." Link rubbed the back of his neck, then tensed suddenly. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"Where's Tracy and Penny?"

The teenagers stood in a shocked silence that made both of thier stoamchs flip.

"Don't worry, lover boys. We left your girlfriends alone. For now." They both spun around when the door opened suddenly. Link and Seaweed stared opened-mouthed at the girl standing in the doorway.

"Rosa?" Seaweed asked, joining Link in a relieved sigh that Tracy and Penny had come to no harm. "What are you doing here?"

"Just come to fetch and carry." Rosa said with a grin, leveling a gun at them. "But I might get more involved later. Now, I need you boys to come with me."

"What's going on? Why do you want us so badly?" Link asked her, not moving.

Rosa stepped closer to Link, exposing the doorway and two men who appeared to be backup, also with guns pointed at them.

She lowered the gun and pulled Link's tie, letting the fabric slip through her fingers and settle back onto his lithe chest as she gazed up at him with a sultry look in her eyes.

"I could tell you why _I_ want you so badly, sugar, but we just don't have the time. Now, move it."

Link and Seaweed were prodded down a long dark hallway by Rosa and the gurads to a doorway with bright light on the other side. The glow filtered though the cracks around the doorjam.

"Go on." Rosa poked Link in the ribs for good measure.

Seaweed pushed though the doorway to lead the group into a highly unexpected room.

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Tracy's stomach was doing things it had never done before.

Link was gone, so was Seaweed, Penny was starting to look hysterical and Tracy had no idea what to do.

"What could have happened to them? They couldn't have vanished into thin air." Penny reasoned frantically as Tracy led her off of the dance floor.

"I don't know. If they'd have gone aywhere on thier own free will, I think they would have told us about it. So, where could they have been taken that was close to the dance floor?"

Having a question to answer seemed to have a calming effect on Penny. They apprached the dance floor, circling around it.

"There." Tracy pointed out a discreet unmarked door seven feet from the dance floor, about ten feet from where Tracy was dancing with Link.

"Is that the right door?" Penny asked, seeing two others just like it.

"There's only one way to find out. Act drunk." Tracy said, seeing a couple seated at a table near the door in question.

"What?" Penny asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I have a hunch. Just do it."

"Okay..." Penny said tenatively.

Penny let her eyes get unfocused and she sagged against Tracy, who held her up. Tracy led her over to the table with the couple.

"Hello, I'm really sorry, but my friend seems to have had too much to drink."

"_You've_ had too much to drink." Penny slurred dissagreeably.

Tracy ignored her. "The martre 'd told me to bring her to a door back here where she could lie down, but I can't seem to find which one. Would you guys possibly know anything?"

"There were two boys that were pretty hammered taken though the door over there, maybe that's it." The woman offered, pointing to the door that Tracy had indicated earlier.

"That must be the one. Thank you." Tracy said politely.

"Just tell your friend to take it easy." The man advised. "You kids look a little young to be drinking so heavily."

"_You_ take it easy." Penny retorted as Tracy hurredly led her away.

They stumbled though the door after checking no staff was watching. They found themselves in a long, dark hallway, but they could see a section of light as it splled into the hallway. They went to it. Inside they foudnt two beds, and the light sourse was a naked light bulb that hung from a chain on the ceiling.

Tracy could smell a faint echo of Link's cologne.

"Are they gone?" Penny whispered.

"Maybe. I think we should check out the end of the hallway." Tracy said, going out in the hallway and continuing down to the cracks of light.

They reached the doorway. Penny put a hand on it to push it open, but Tracy stopped her, hearing voices on the other side.

Whoo. That chapter took forEVER to write. And I have no idea why.

Anyway, I realize that a lot of things that are happening are REALLY convienient, but I can't help it if Tracy lives a charmed life, okay?

Thanks for staying with me for this long.

-Gold


	4. Chapter 4

New chapter, new opportunities to be a very strange fiction writer. I warned you guys that this would get wierd

Continuty: Made it up

Dsiclaimer: If I owned Hairspray, I would be a much happier person than I am right now. Languege, and a little bit of dark violence in this chapter

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A recording studio.

The walls were painted white, along with the floor, and the two microphones hanging from the cieling on the other side of a wall with a picture window leading into it. The white door leading into the room with the mics was closed. Seaweed and Link were pushed into the lounge area behind the mixing board

"Well, if it isn't the Hardy Boys. Welcome to The Echo Room's namesake." said a familiar high-pitched, lispy voice.

"Boss?!?" Seaweed asked incredulously, then got back his calm demeanor. "Oh, sorry. Marion Dersey. Can I call you Mary?"

Link snickered. Boss's face turned a familiar shade or purple.

"Filthy negro." Boss growled. "Unfortunately I can't kill you yet. I need something from you boys."

"What are you talking about? What would you want from us?" Link asked as he and Seaweed were made to sit down on a couch across from where Boss and two other men sat.

"Your voice." Boss said.

"What?" Seaweed asked confused. "You can get that in any record..."

"No, I need a special part of your voices, both of you." Boss explained, surprisingly calmly. "I can't seem to doctor it out of anything else."

"Doctor what? What are you talking about?"

"Well, the disease known as integration is spreading far too wide for my comfort. I ned to stop this from happening."

"Well, you can't" Link said, "You just made all the bigots like yourself look like idiots when you tried to blow up The Corny Collins show with peanuts."

"Oh, I can, you misguided soul. I just need you two to sing for me." Boss said, leaning back on the armchair across from them.

"Why would we do that? Are you an idiot?" Seaweed said. Link noddde his agreement.

"You would do this," Boss said in a low threatening voice becuase I'm sure you would hate to see anything happen to..." he picked up a piece of paper and read "Penny Pingleton and Tracy Turnblad? I understand that these two young ladies are important to you boys."

Link and Seaweed's hearts caught in thier chests.

"Although I'm not sure why. Link, you could do so much better than this girl. She's rather a porker."

Link was grabbed by two of the bodygurads that came to fetch them as he made a dive for Boss.

"You little superficial, racist asshole!" Link cursed as he struggled in grasp of the guards. "You never say anything like that about Tracy."

"And you will never hear a word like that out of me again if you just sing me this one note. If you don't...well, then you'll never hear a word out of her again." Boss told him darkly.

Link and Seaweed looked at each other. There was no way out.

A sneeze could be heard on the other side of the door that lead to the hallway.

"Check it out." Boss said to the body guard

Seaweed and Link were led into the soundproof room. The door was closed and Link heard the _click_ of a bolt sliding into place. Both boys took places behind microphones.

"What is the note?" Link asked, clearing his throat.

"The music on the stand in front of each of you." Boss said, hopping up into the seat behind the mixing board.

Link and Seaweed looked at the note.

"There's no way I can hit this." Link said finally.

"Oh, I believe there is, Mr. Larkin." Boss said, readying the equipment. "I believe you had no trouble at the end of your hit song _It Takes Two_. Do not lie to me. Okay we are ready. When the read light come on, sing. Loud."

The red light flaished on and Seaweed sang his note, and Link joined him a split second later. The effect was unnerving. They stopped when the light blinked off.

"Excellent, boys. I will even let you see the result of your handy work. Come to the window."

Link and Seaweed stepped to the window and looked through the glass. The recording was put on to a portable player, about the size of a standard mailbox with two reels on it. Boss set it down on the coffey table in the lounge. "Rosa, dear, will you come here for a minute?"

Rosa, who had been draped across one of the armchairs, went over to where Boss stood.

"I just need to you sit down here, my dear." Boss said indicating. She sat.

Boss, along with the rest of the body guards put a pair of think sound silencers on his ears and he pushed play on the player, and Link and Seaweed's haunting note filled the air. Rosa's eyes glazed over. Boss turned off the player.

"Rosa, I want you to get off the couch." Boss said.

She did.

"I want you to hop up and down four times."

She hopped.

"I want you to flap your arms like wings."

She flapped.

"Now," Boss said, "I want you to break the index finger on you left hand."

Link and Seaweed watched in horror as Rosa grasped the finger firmly in her right hand and jerked it back. A sickening _crunch_ could be heard, then Rosa screamed.

"Finally, my dear, I want you to pick that gun."

Rosa picked up the gun in her right hand. The bottom dropped out of Link's stomach.

"Put it to your temple." Boss said in a soothing voice.

The cold metal of the silencer touched her head.

"STOP!" Link and Seaweed yelled as loud as they could, pounding on the glass with thier fists, but no one paid attention them.

"And pull the trigger."

Link and Seaweed looked away feeling sick. They looked back, and could not see Rosa.

"You sick bastard!" Seaweed yelled. "How could you do something like that?"

"The tone quality of this recording disrupts brainwaves, so I can use my voice to input whatever action I want in them." Boss said, turning the microphone on once again into the recording room, so Link and Seaweed could hear them. "It's true, I could have used anyone I wanted to obtain the recording, but I wanted you two to be part of the reason of the downfall of the disturbing institution that you helped build."

"You did all this so black people and white poeple wouldn't hang out anymore?" Link asked incredulously.

"Of course, dear boy." Boss looked dreamily out into the distance. "I will go down in the history books. 'The Man who fixed America'"

"You're insane!" Link said, pounding on the glass again.

Boss glared at him. "I was thinking of giving you a chance to live in my Utopia, Mr. Larkin, but now I see there's no saving you, since the recording would have no effect on you and you refuse to see reason. So you'll die here with your negro friend. What a waste."

Boss gathered up his coat, his hat and the recording.

"What are you going to do with us?" Link asked.

"Oh that is very simple. The room you are now in is airtight as well as soundproof. I have turned off the air filtration system. The lack of oxygen will cause you will lose consiousness in two minutes, and you'll be dead by five. Now, if you boys will excuse me, I have to go and save the world."

With that, Boss turned off thier microphone and left the echo room, shutting to door to Link and Seaweed's completely silent cries.

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((A few minutes earlier))

"And you will never hear a word like that out of me again if you just sing me this one note. If you don't...well, then you'll never hear a word out of her again." The muffled high pitched, lispy voice said ont the other side of the door. Tracy wasnted to burst though and tell Link not to do whatever Boss wanted just becuase of her, but restrained herself. Making her presence known would have just made things worse.

While Penny was listening, she felt an urgecy in her nasal passages that she just couldn't deny anymore.

She sneezed.

"Bless you." Tracy whispered distractedly.

"Check it out" she heard the voice say on the other side of the door, making cold tendrils of fear race down her spine. Penny and Tracy raced down the hallway into the room where they had found to two beds. It was bare.

The body guard made his way slowly down the dark hallway, making sure to check every shadow that could hide anyone. He headed toward the open door like a moth to open flame, spilling a section of light into the hall. He rounded the corner...

And found nothing. He set to examine the room mroe carefully, but Boss called to him from the hallway.

"Come on. We don't have time to waste!" Boss said impatiently.

The body guard looked around the empty room for good measure, then followed Boss back into the main dining room of The Echo Room.

Tracy finally let go of the breath she had been holding from her hiding place beneath the bed. Penny's head poked out from the other. She crawled to the door and stuck her head tenetively out into the hallway.

"They're gone." Penny whispered, straightening up.

She helped Tracy out from under the bed and they sprinted down the hallway, into the white recording studio.

"Link?" Tracy called out. She couldn't see anyone.

"We just heard them in here. Where could they have gone?" Penny asked

"I don't know" Tracy said.

Oh, my. This is very exciting. I wonder what happens next? Come back later to find out.

Anyway, I am glad you've followed me this far.

-Gold


	5. Chapter 5

I left a very sticky situation, so I tried to update as fast as I could. Oh, I'm gonna toss in a new chactar in this chapter, let's see if you catch it.

Continuity: All information courtesy of Encyclopiedia Birtannica's special "Made it up" edition.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hairspray. Some languege. Hey, if you were stuck in a room with a limited air supply, wouldn't you let out a cuss or two? Oh, and my spell check is still broken

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Link sat sprawled on the floor of the recording booth, his chest heaving like he'd just run a marathon, his starving lungs looking for oxygen that wasn't there. Seaweed lay two feet away, his eyes were closed, but his chest was still moving.

Link looked over at his watch. A minute and a half had passed. It wouldn't be long now...

But then he heard a beautiful, sweet melodic voice call out his name. "Link?" it called tenitively.

_Tracy..._ Link's oxygen-deprived brain thought, but he was unable to say anything out loud. _Tracy, I love you so much. I'm here, Baby. All you have to do is find me..._

With a supreme effort, he lifted his head off the wall and brought it back down with a loud _thunk_. He listened intently, but heard nothing. He fought off a wave dispair that thretened to overtake him as darkness creeped into the edges of his vision.

The door burst open and Tracy and Penny rushed into the room. Penny went to check Seaweed's pulse as Tracy went to Link's side.

"Link? Link, can you hear me?" she asked, taking his face in her hands.

She let out a sigh of relief when his beautiful blue eyes flickered open and looked over to her. "Hey, Lil' Darlin'." he slurred, smiling dazzlingly. "I knew you'd find me."

----------------------------------------------------

Seaweed had passed out in the backseat of the car with Penny beside him, trying to bring him around. Tracy drove while Link nursed a splitting headache in the passenger seat and told them what had happened in the recording studio.

"We have to stop him." Link finished, wincing as another bolt of pain shot through his temple.

"Where would they have gone? Penny asked. They all fell into thoughtful silence.

Seaweed moaned as he started to regain conciousness. "The nicest kids in town..." he sang softly in his sleep.

"I bet they went to WYZT." Tracy said suddenly.

"It would be perfect. It's just in time for the evening news." Link realized. "Step on it, Trace."

-------------------------------------------------------------

The raven-haired newscaster with two rows of incredibly straight white teeth smiled as the last weather segment came to a close and the camera came to rest on him once again.

"That's it for the evening news. I'm Bud Larkin, have a good one, Baltimore." he said with a very familiar wink.

"Just a minute, Bud." said a lispy voice from offscreen. "I have some breaking news."

Boss strode over tot he news desk and plonked down the player on the countertop.

"What is that? What's going on?" Bud asked incrediously.

"You will soon know, Bud." Boss said, pointing a gun at him and addressing the camera.

"As you all know, I am-" he bagan, but was inturrupted when four teenagers burst into the studio.

Boss was not pleased. "How did _you_ get here?" he spat.

"Magic Carpet." Seaweed said sarcastically.

"Link?" Bud asked, "Do you know this man?"

"I'll explain later, Dad." Link said, but was immediately tackled by the bodyguard that was looking for Penny and Tracy earlier. Penny and Tracy preceded to beat on his back without much effect.

"Seaweed." Link grunted to his friend as he fought off the enormous body guard."The...coffee..."

Seaweed nodded and sprinted toward the newcasters desk. He dove and slid across the surface, grabbing Bud's cup of coffee and the player as he did. Seaweed dissapeared on the other side of the desk.

"NO!" Boss also dissapeared behind the desk.

The other occupants on the studio waited in eager anticipation. There was a splash and a cry of dispair. Boss surfaced again, holding the soggy remains of Link and Seaweed's recording. Seaweed not far behind looking very pleased with himself.

-------------------------------------------------------------

A week later found Link and Tracy in his backyard, slowly swinging back and fourth on a porch swing hung from a tree that shaded the backyard nicely in the summertime. The two occupants of it now were bundled up and gazing at the stars, completely unaware of the cold air around them.

"I'm glad we finally get to have our date." Link said, pulling Tracy closer to him.

"Yeah, this is nice. And I'm going to be a little leery of restaurants for awile." Tracy said.

Link laughed. "Yeah, me too, Babe."

"I hope we never have to worry about Boss again." she said, laying her head on Link's chest and letting her eyes close dreamily to the sound of his heartbeat. "I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't gotten to you in time in that recording studio."

"I wasn't worried for a minute." Link said, kissing the top of her head.

"You weren't?" she said, opening her eyes and looking at him.

"No, I always knew you'd find me, Lil' Darlin'."

Tracy smiled and layed her head back on his chest, sighing contentedly.

_They say it's a man's world well, that cannot be denied, but what good's a man's world without a woman by his side?_ he sang softly into her hair. Tracy Turnblad got lost in his voice, comforted in the knowledge that he would always be there to find her.

The End

I know, real random appearance of Link's dad, but the charactar just fit, so I ran with it. Well, there it is. I hope you liked reading it, cuz I sure loved writing it.

Thanks and sorry again for all the spelling mistakes.

-Gold


End file.
